Fayetteville veteran served as gunner on B-17 bomber

'Goldfish Club' member survived bomber's crash into North Sea

This photo shows U.S. military bombers flying missions duirng WWII. Fayetteville native Jack Goetz served as gunner on a B-17 bomber during the war. (Submitted)

FAYETTEVILLE >> As a gunner on a B-17 bomber during WWII, Jack Goetz knew he would be lucky to survive 25 missions.

The 1st Engineer with the 384th Bomb Group survived all of his missions, but not without some close calls.

In August 1943, he escaped injury when his plane was forced to make a crash landing at the base in England after a mission to Schweinfurt-Regensburg, Germany.

In the following weeks, there were more forced landings and more missions where the 384th incurred heavy loses.

Then, on Dec. 30, 1944, while on a mission to Ludwigshafen, Germany, his plane went down in the North Sea.

A 1944 photo shows Jack Goetz with his flight crew in front of a B-17 bomber during WWII. (Submitted)

"We had a bad engine. We should have never taken off. I told my skipper if we lose another engine we'll never stay with our outfit. We got in about 75 miles and the engine started shooting oil.

"I tried to tell him to feather it because we'd be in trouble. He didn't, and at 25,000 feet, we pulled into a spin. We caught on fire. That's when we ditched in the North Sea. That was really cold. It was about an hour and five minutes before the British Navy picked us up."

A ladder came down from the ship. The first words he heard from the British sailor: "What's the matter, Yank, can't you keep your kite in the air?"

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They gave him and the other soldiers a shot of rum and some hot soup. Goetz and his unit were sent to a British hospital for two days and then back to duty on Jan. 2, 1944.

The experience made him part of the so-called "Goldfish Club." In his scrapbook, Goetz still keeps the membership card, which reads, "This is to certify that S/Sgt. Jack K. Goetz has qualified as a member of the Goldfish Club by escaping death by the use of his emergency dinghy on Dec. 30, 1944."

Jack Goetz keeps an original copy of the popular Yank magazine from 1945. (Markell DeLoatch — Public Opinion)

Perhaps his closest call was the mission that he missed.

After returning from his 24th mission, Goetz received a cablegram that his dad was in failing health. He was diabetic and doctors had to amputate his leg.

At first, his superiors weren't sure they would be able to let him go home. But, in the end, Goetz was allowed to go home while fighting continued.

"They were going on a 'milk run' to France. Here they had a direct hit. The cockpit where I would have been riding, 9 of the 10 people were killed. I always say a diabetic saved my life."

Jack Goetz is seen in his U.S. military uniform during WWII. (Submitted)

The war eventually drew to a close in August 1945, when Goetz again found himself aboard a B-17 along with war correspondents from the Associated Press, United Press, Time, Life, CBS, and other outlets. After several stops, the plane landed in Japan and they took a bus to Hiroshima. Goetz was among the first Americans in Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped.

"We didn't know it was an atomic bomb," Goetz said. "We didn't have interpreters along. We had a Japanese doctor educated at Harvard who went with us. I heard all kinds of things of how many people were killed there -- 40,000 to 100,000. It done an awful job. I got a few pictures of Hiroshima, but there isn't much there. They told us to stay out of the water. Nobody knew what was what. That was a great secret."

Jack Goetz, Fayetteville, still has an original copy of Yank magazine that was popular amongst servicemen during WWII. (Markell DeLoatch — Public Opinion)

Born and raised in Fayetteville, Goetz was working at a machine shop in Baltimore that made the B-26 bombers when war broke out.

He wanted to enlist, but his mother wouldn't let him.

Six months later, he was able to enlist in the Army and was sworn in at Baltimore.

Goetz knew he wanted to be a gunner.

After enlisting, he was sent to Fort Meade, and then to St. Petersburg. After his flight physical, it was on to Biloxi, Miss., followed by B-17 specialist training in Seattle and gunnery training in Las Vegas.

This was followed by more training before he was finally sent to Europe to serve with the U.S. Army Air Corp.'s 384th Bomb Group.

"At that time, you had to fly 25 missions. Your chances of getting out of 25 missions without getting wounded was 5 percent," Goetz said. "It wasn't very good."

After the war, Goetz ran a garage and gas station for 23 years and served five terms as tax collector for Greene Township.

Goetz and his wife Ceceilia, who is also a veteran, have been married for 27 years.

She served in the Women's Army Corps, working in the mail room at Lockbourne Air Force Base in Columbus, Ohio, and also working on the bombsights.

"My job was to go in the planes and see how long they had used a certain bombsight," she said. "If they used it too long, I was the one who told them to switch to a newer one."

Some stories from Jack Goetz's time in the service are also included in a new book by a Texas author about B-17 crews titled "25 June 1943 MIA: The Search for Miss Deal and The Early Raiders on The Reich."